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When is Christmas?

When you grow up rich in family but poor in wealth, you learn to appreciate things.

Holiday meals with loved ones. Even if the meal is "just" ham. Watching old 35mm films. Some years, the smell of sugar cookies, fudge, peanut brittle and such when we could afford them.

Most years we got maybe one or two small things. No big deal, It was great every year around Christmas because Mom and Dad always made it special.

Later on we had some "better" Christmases where the material things were in more abundance...I actually thought it was over the top the year I got a bow AND a remote control car...loved them both.

Anyway, we always were grateful for what we got because we knew it was a sacrifice for Mom and Dad to get expensive stuff (yes, to me 20 bucks was...and is...expensive).

I really think the best parts of Christmas were decorating the tree as a family, taking turns putting up our ornaments...we actually had monogrammed Winnie the Pooh ornaments, too.

But even in the best of times, out "haul" never matched that of some of my friends who routinely got a few hundred dollars worth of stuff...Atari gaming systems, for example...

Never minded a bit. They had more coin that our family, and it did not bother me. If I got stuff, great. If not, I knew enough to know it did not matter.. I did not want Mom and Dad hawking stuff or getting in debt so we could have some expensive gifts.

All of which means it irritates me all the much more to hear leeches already discussing their Christmas demands, with things like new bikes and hundred dollar gift cards and so forth...and knowing they not only expect those things, but will be exceedingly angry if they do not get them.

First off, Christmas should be a warm, loving time of sharing. Second, gifts, particularly multiple expensive ones, are a privilege, not a right.

If whatever Kennedys are left breathing choose to give their kids a Ferrari...more power to them. They have the type of bank account to justify that. I do not envy them or resent them for that.

But people who struggle to pay their bills, maybe they should rethink shelling out hundreds of dollars for stuff. Learn to be content.

I do remember a few gifts I got over the years that were, to me, spectacular. But I remember far more moments of sharing in the love and familial atmosphere and, truth be told, treasure those far more.

Learn responsibility, people. Furthermore, learn reality. If you have problems trying to find something to eat because a loaf of bread is about what you can afford, maybe expecting a thousand dollar Christmas is like A Christmas Carol; a fun little fantasy, but keep it in your head.

And certainly do not be rolling out that list 2 weeks before Thanksgiving.